st. john's wort oil on osteoarthritis

Conditions: Osteoarthritis, Knee; Pain

Summary: this study investigated the effect of st. john's wort oil on pain intensity and physical functions in people with knee osteoarthritis. this study adopted a randomized, placebo-controlled, and qualitative mixed design. the sample consisted of 60 patients randomized into intervention (n=30) and placebo control (n=30) groups. the experimental group participants were treated with st. john's wort oil three times a week for three weeks, while the placebo control group participants were treated with olive oil three times a week for three weeks. quantitative data were collected using a patient identification form, the western ontario and mcmaster universities osteoarthritis index (womac), and the visual analogue scale (vas). qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. .

this study adopted a randomized, placebo-controlled, and qualitative mixed design. qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview questionnaire. the study was conducted in the physical therapy and rehabilitation outpatient clinic of a public hospital in türkiye. the study population consisted of all patients admitted to the outpatient clinic for osteoarthritis-related pain. the data collection process continued from december 2017 to august 2018 and was reported in accordance with the consolidated standards of reporting trials (consort) guidelines. a pilot study was conducted with five patients before data collection. patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis by a physical therapy and rehabilitation specialist according to acr criteria were randomized into the study by the university biostatistics unit. the initial sample consisted of 72 patients divided into intervention (n=36; st. john's wort oil) and placebo control (n=36; olive oil) groups. however, six experimental group participants were excluded because they either could not be contacted on the phone during the follow-ups (n=4) or stated that they would be out of town for a long time (n=2). six control group participants were also excluded because they either could not be contacted on the phone during the follow-ups (n=3), did not want to keep up with the intervention (n=1), or wanted to withdraw from the study (n=2). therefore, the final sample consisted of 30 experimental and 30 control group participants.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * being literate, * planning no pregnancy during the study, * not being pregnant, * having been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis according to acr (american college of rheumatology), * having had knee pain for the past month, * needing analgesics for more than 15 days in a month, * having osteoarthritis-related knee pain despite routine treatment with analgesics, * having a vas score of ≥ 4 on one knee, * speaking turkish, * having no communication problems, and * volunteering exclusion criteria: * pregnant, * having a physical disability in the area where the application will be made, * having any skin disease in the area to be treated, * having large scar tissue in the area to be treated, * having a history of physical trauma in the last three months in the area to be treated, * having any peripheral vascular disease in the area to be treated, * having inflammatory joint disease, * having a history of rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, * using any complementary and integrative (integrated) health application in the last three months, * those who have undergone intra-articular treatment in the last three months, * receiving pain blocking treatment in the last year, * receiving physical therapy in the last three months and during the application, * patients with 2 or more pain in the other knee according to the vas scale were not included in the study.

Keywords: osteoarthritis pain st. john's wort oil physical function nursing